Description:
Watercolor on paper. Stamped u.r.: PLANCHE 44.
Excerpt from American Indian Painters, Vol. 2, p. 6: Fred Kabotie is the dean of living Pueblo Indian painters. Although not the earliest in this era, he was the first to receive national recognition. He was born in Shungopavy, north of the Painted Desert, in Arizona, in 1900. His education progressed through the Home Day School, the United States boarding school at Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe high school, where he graduated. Kabotie's style is realistic and literal. In this he follows the tradition of early Hopi artists, who painted the human figure with considerable indication of modeling. Yet the modeling, as in all Indian art, is conventional and does not indicate directional light or cast shadows. His subjects are the religious ceremonies and festivals of his people. Each is portrayed with utmost fidelity to ritual and costumes. The paintings show his understanding and love of his people as well as a deeply religious temperament. Yet he does not omit the fun and humor which are also present in the ceremonies. Koshari (clowns) perform antics to delight the spectators at the same time that priests advance to the steady cadence of drums. The "Ceremonial Dance" is an excellent example of Kabotie's early work and amply illustrates his power of observation. In other paintings "Racing Katchinas" come down to earth and challenge men to a footrace. "Goblin Katchinas" suddenly appear from the Kiva (underworld) to chastise unruly children. "The Kat-china Dance" often reproduced in art magazines is really a prayer for rain, in which the gods purify the people and bless the crops. When the Indian Tower, adapted from prehistoric structures at Mesa Verde and Havenweep, was built at Desert view, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Kabotie was commissioned to design and paint the symbolical decorations. One of them depicts Hay-a-pa-o (the man eagle) who personifies the Powers and Forces of the Hopi cosmogony ; another, Muying-wa, represents the principles of germination and growth. There is also a large circular design of the oldest Hopi myth, the story of the first man to navigate the Colorado River, who became the first Snake Priest and originated the famous dance held every year on one of the mesas. From 1937 to 1945 Kabotie was a teacher in the Hopi high school at Oraibi. During 1945-46, with the advantage of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he devoted himself to creative work and experimentation in new methods. The immediate effect has been some changes in style and the introduction of backgrounds, clouds, and sky in the compositions. Whatever effect these departures may have on his future productions, his fame rests secure upon what he has already accomplished.
During tha early 1930s, Kabotie received much favorable comment in art publications, among them the School Art Magazine the American Magazine of Art, and the International Studio .London Fred Kabotie illustrated "Tey-Tey Tales" by Elizabeth DeHuff and "Field Mouse Goes to War" by Edward Kennerd. He served as member of the jury for the second Annual Exhibition of Indian paintings at Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, in 1947, having won first prize in Pueblo group there the year before.